few sandy vag's lol
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/n...k=40e31124472fa42209bee9c1b04ee5cd-1511435939
NRL expected to confirm Queensland to miss grand final
Anna Caldwell, Phil Rothfield, The Courier-Mail
an hour ago
QUEENSLAND rugby league fans have been given a kick in the guts, with the NRL on Friday expected to confirm they won’t let the Sunshine State host a NRL Grand Final.
The move has been slammed as a “Sydney stitch up’’ by an angry State Government, who had been hopeful of luring the grand final north.
The Courier-Mail can reveal that the NRL will instead give a 25-year commitment to hold grand finals in Sydney after 2019, in a move that scuttles both Queensland and Victoria’s hopes to pry the event away.
As part of the plan, the NRL grand final will head back to the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2020 for the first time in 33 years.
Tourism and Major Events Minister Kate Jones said the deal “sounds like a Sydney stitch up’’.
“I’m sick and tired of the NRL taking Queensland for granted,’’ she said.
“There is only one state that consistently delivers record rugby league crowds and that’s Queensland.”
Brisbane was hopeful of hosting an NRL grand final in 2019 or 2020 if Sydney’s ANZ Stadium was unavailable during a rebuild.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian will on Friday morning announce the $2 billion plan to rebuild ANZ stadium at Homebush and Allianz stadium at Moore Park, ending four years of negotiations over the renewal.
The rebuild of Allianz, which is currently riddled with safety issues, will begin next year, costing $700 million for a brand new 45,000 seat stadium.
In 2019 — after the NRL grand final — the ANZ rebuild will follow, costing $1.2 billion for a 75,000 seat stadium. It will be reconfigured into a rectangle.
In return for the government providing two new stadiums, NRL boss Todd Greenberg has agreed to keep the 2020 grand final in Sydney while both stadiums are out of action.
Greenberg knocked back multimillion-dollar offers from QLD and Victoria to take the game interstate when the rebuilds are under way, instead agreeing to hold a grand final at the SCG.
The last grand final at the SCG was back in 1987 when Paul Vautin captained the Manly Sea Eagles to victory over Canberra.